The Blacklist Season 7: Premiere Date, Cast, Recap, Update

‘The Blacklist’ is an American crimethriller that airs on NBC. The show premiered for the first time on September 23, 2013. Created by Joe Bokenkamp, the series is backed by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television, Sony Pictures Television, and Open 4 Business Productions. Anthony Sparks is the producer while Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, Joe Carnahan, and James Spader are the executive producers.

Crime, thriller, and action are the most popular genres amongst the audience. When you have a storyline based on a master criminal, eluding capture, who turns up to be a confidential informer for the FBI, things are bound to get fascinating. ‘The Blacklist’ has been successful in hooking the audience over the seasons since its release. The concept for the show came from the story of the capture of Whitey Bulger, a feared member of the Irish mob. Viewers might remember Johnny Depp portraying Bulger in ‘Black Mass’.

Executive producer John Eisendrath spoke about the show with Collider “So, the idea was, ‘Well, what would happen if a man like Whitey Bulger turned himself in and said, “I am here. I have some rules that I want you to follow, but if you follow them I will give you the names of people that I have worked with, during the 20 years that I have been a fugitive. So, there was a real world influence that affected the shaping of the show that was already being thought about. How can you put someone that you don’t trust in the center of a show about trying to find criminals? And here was an example in the real world of just such a person. It was a fortuitous turn of events, where the idea for a show was being considered, and then here comes a real-life story that helped give it some shape.”

Whatever the idea was, it hit a chord with the critics and fans alike. The show has gained special praise for James Spader’s performance the police procedural elements, besides having an overarching and complex but compelling plot.

The Blacklist Cast: Who is in it?

The main cast of ‘The Blacklist’ includes Raymond Reddington aka Red played by James Spader, who is famous for his role as Alan Shore in ‘Boston Legal’ apart from having appeared in numerous films including David Cronenberg’s underrated ‘Crash’. He is later revealed as the biological father to Liz and is also an imposter.

The role of Liz Keen is played by Megan Boone; she was born as Masha Rostova and is a special agent with FBI and the wife of Tom Keen. Diego Klattenhoff appears as Donald Ressler, who is also a special agent and later becomes the Assistant Director of the FBI Terrorism Squad. Other interesting characters are Ryan Eggold played by Tom Keen who is the husband to Liz. Parminder Nagra comes in as Meera Malik who is a field agent with the FBI and Amir Arison as Aram Mojtabai who plays the role of computer specialist with the FBI.

These characters are enriched by the presence of a supporting cast, and NBC has already confirmed that the main cast members are returning for the upcoming season as well. However, it remains to be seen if new characters will be added, to make the already intriguing story even more fascinating.

The Blacklist Plot: What is it about?

The plot of ‘The Blacklist’ starts with Red or Raymond Reddington, who is a former US Naval Intelligence officer turned whistleblower, turned criminal mastermind and fugitive. One fine day he strolls into the FBI headquarters and gives himself up. While the fedora and shades are a tad bit cliched, what comes next is straight out of a chapter of ‘The Silence of the Lambs‘. He is shown to be a dangerous criminal who will divulge information only to a rookie due to reasons unknown. Over the seasons, we see him help the FBI take down some of the world’s most notorious criminals, and Red in his time has worked with all of them and is in a unique position to help out.

In a show that would fail miserably for its cliches, it manages to soar due to the presence of a compelling central character which is alleviated even further by Spader’s performance. The actor has always had expressive eyes, and there is a lot going behind Red’s eyes every time we are treated to a closeup. In his serpentlike demeanor and gleeful superiority, Spader’s character seems to be the one not just driving the plot, but also holding all things together.

Spader’s performance reminds me of James Purefoy’s role as the enigmatic and charming serial killer, teacher, and Edgar Allan Poe fan, Joe Carroll in Fox’s drama series ‘The Following‘. However, ‘The Blacklist’ does the same thing as ‘The Following’ and shackles a character that should instead be unleashed if for nothing else other than to make the whole setup more interesting. Nonetheless, Red makes things compelling even if the broad unflattering characterization of Megan undoes a lot of that.

Hopefully, in the upcoming season, the show will focus a little more on its characters and unleash Spader to his fullest, because honestly speaking, it is his power as an actor and a magnetic performer that has enabled ‘The Blacklist’ to continue for as long as it has.

The Blacklist Season 7 Release Date: When will it premiere?

‘The Blacklist’ Season 6 premiered on January 3, 2019. NBC has already renewed the show for a seventh season as reported by Variety. Lisa Katz and Tracey Pakosta, the co-presidents of Scripted Programming at NBC said in a statement, “Congratulations to our amazing producers, cast and crew, all of whom continue to work at the top of their game and make ‘The Blacklist’ one of NBC’s signature series.” However, no release date has been announced, but our best guess is that ‘The Blacklist’ Season 7 might air sometime in January, 2020. We will update this section as soon as we hear more.

The Blacklist Trailer:

While we wait for an update on season 7, check out the season 6 trailer to refresh your memories. If you haven’t seen the show yet head over to NBC to catch all the episodes of the previous seasons.